Mberg121 wrote:Burrell sits because he stinks and dellucci, who is hitting well over .300 will get a lot of starts vs righties.

Wow, has the steroids era skewed the power numbers SO much that 20 HRs and 65 RBI in 295 ABs "stinks"? Granted, he's not the most complete player in baseball, but plenty of teams would be happy to have that kind of production in one of their OF spots. (And it's not like Abreu's been helping him out much hitting ahead of him either.)

As for Dellucci, don't let the .300 average fool you. He's a lifetime .263 hitter over 10 major league seasons (a much larger sample size than his 124 ABs this year). And that includes .251, .254, and .247 the last 3 years against righties. If anything, that would indicate to me that the guy is due to come back down to earth anytime now.

I only hope Burrell gets traded to an organization that, unlike the Fillies, knows what the heck they're doing...

Dude, do you watch burrell play everyday? As someone who has to suffer through it, the guy stinks. He may be the worst player in history with runners on base or more particularly in scoring position with 2 outs, and he has more holes in his swing than swiss cheese. Not to mention he is awful in the outfield and painfully slow on the bases....barry bonds slow.

As for dellucci, I agree he is due for a big letdown, but hey the guy is hot right now and burrell is about as cold as anyone can possibly get, so why NOT bench him against righties?

Don't attack me by trying to rattle off statistics and claim that those mean he doesn't stink. Right now, the guy flat out stinks. Those numbers are about as hollow as can be. He'll strikeout when the game is on the line, but come up in a blowout and hit a meaningless homer. Anyone can say that he's hit 20 hrs, but what has that meant to the team? 46-53.

Dude, that was hardly an attack on you, unless you're a Phillies coach or front office guy in disguise. I'm just saying that "stinks" seems like too strong a word for someone with those numbers, hollow or no. No, I don't watch him play every day, but I watch his boxscores every day 'cause that's all that matters in a fantasy league. I didn't keep him for his defense or his speed, nor do I care if he strikes out when the game's on the line if he gets me a homer and a few RBI in the first 8 innings. Hollow or no, Burrell produces power numbers when he plays regularly.

As for being the worst in history, in 2005 he hit .295 with 10 HRs and 48 RBI in 88 ABs with RISP. In 2004, it was .317 with 2 HRs and 27 RBI in 60 ABs. Not too shabby. Sure he's having a rough go of it right now, but give the guy a break. He's proven over his career that he's got pop. Again, maybe he's not the greatest player around, but IMO words like "stink" and "worst in history" are just too harsh.

I realize you're suffering through it as a Phillies fan, and you have my sympathies. (And I do apologize for the "Fillies" comment; it was directed at the team and not an attack on you, but rude and unnecessary nonetheless. Sorry!) All I know is that, purely from a fantasy standpoint, I sincerely hope some other team takes Burrell off the Phils' hands by the trading deadline so he can go back to playing regularly, blasting HRs, and driving in runs.

The latest from Rotoworld, good news for some, I guess bad for others:

Pat Burrell - OF - PhilliesPat Burrell was out of the lineup Thursday for the third time in four games.Since it's becoming less likely that they'll be able to move either Bobby Abreu or Burrell, it looks like the Phillies are doing their best to increase David Dellucci's trade value. Burrell, who is hitting .323 since the break, should resume playing regularly after the deadline. Jul. 27 - 4:57 pm et

I'm just happy to see the words "playing regularly", and hey, he hasn't been all THAT bad since the All-Star break either. Maybe he's starting to come around, hit like his old self...

It seems highly unlikely that Burrell will be going anywhere. He has a blanket no trade clause and he is only willing to go to either Boston or New York. He apparently invoked the clause to nix a deal with the Orioles. An article quoted a Red Sox source as saying that the Red Sox have zero interest in him at this time, particularly since they can't use him at DH, and his chronic foot problem hinders his running ability making him useless on the basepaths and in the OF from time to time. Any team acquiring him also has to pay that huge salary for 2007-2008 ($27 million).

I actually think Burrell has the ability to be a decent slugger and put up numbers like he did last year if only he could stay healthy and be willing to be a DH. I owned him last year and was pleased with the results for the most part. But he's never managed to be consistent from one year to the next and will probably never live up to being a no. 1 draft pick. Moreover, he isn't thought of as being a great clubhouse guy.

"Trying to hit him was like trying to drink coffee with a fork." - Willie Stargell on Sandy Koufax

Mberg121 wrote:Burrell sits because he stinks and dellucci, who is hitting well over .300 will get a lot of starts vs righties.

Wow, has the steroids era skewed the power numbers SO much that 20 HRs and 65 RBI in 295 ABs "stinks"? Granted, he's not the most complete player in baseball, but plenty of teams would be happy to have that kind of production in one of their OF spots. (And it's not like Abreu's been helping him out much hitting ahead of him either.)

As for Dellucci, don't let the .300 average fool you. He's a lifetime .263 hitter over 10 major league seasons (a much larger sample size than his 124 ABs this year). And that includes .251, .254, and .247 the last 3 years against righties. If anything, that would indicate to me that the guy is due to come back down to earth anytime now.

I only hope Burrell gets traded to an organization that, unlike the Fillies, knows what the heck they're doing...

Dude, do you watch burrell play everyday? As someone who has to suffer through it, the guy stinks. He may be the worst player in history with runners on base or more particularly in scoring position with 2 outs, and he has more holes in his swing than swiss cheese. Not to mention he is awful in the outfield and painfully slow on the bases....barry bonds slow.

As for dellucci, I agree he is due for a big letdown, but hey the guy is hot right now and burrell is about as cold as anyone can possibly get, so why NOT bench him against righties?

Don't attack me by trying to rattle off statistics and claim that those mean he doesn't stink. Right now, the guy flat out stinks. Those numbers are about as hollow as can be. He'll strikeout when the game is on the line, but come up in a blowout and hit a meaningless homer. Anyone can say that he's hit 20 hrs, but what has that meant to the team? 46-53.

Dude, that was hardly an attack on you, unless you're a Phillies coach or front office guy in disguise. I'm just saying that "stinks" seems like too strong a word for someone with those numbers, hollow or no. No, I don't watch him play every day, but I watch his boxscores every day 'cause that's all that matters in a fantasy league. I didn't keep him for his defense or his speed, nor do I care if he strikes out when the game's on the line if he gets me a homer and a few RBI in the first 8 innings. Hollow or no, Burrell produces power numbers when he plays regularly.

As for being the worst in history, in 2005 he hit .295 with 10 HRs and 48 RBI in 88 ABs with RISP. In 2004, it was .317 with 2 HRs and 27 RBI in 60 ABs. Not too shabby. Sure he's having a rough go of it right now, but give the guy a break. He's proven over his career that he's got pop. Again, maybe he's not the greatest player around, but IMO words like "stink" and "worst in history" are just too harsh.

I realize you're suffering through it as a Phillies fan, and you have my sympathies. (And I do apologize for the "Fillies" comment; it was directed at the team and not an attack on you, but rude and unnecessary nonetheless. Sorry!) All I know is that, purely from a fantasy standpoint, I sincerely hope some other team takes Burrell off the Phils' hands by the trading deadline so he can go back to playing regularly, blasting HRs, and driving in runs.

You're right man, sorry for snapping like that. Words just can't describe how frustrated I am as a phillies fan right now and every little thing about them just pisses me off. Take care.

Mberg121 wrote:Oh, and by saying he stinks, I mean in the REAL baseball WORLD as opposed to FANTASY baseball. He's about 100 times more valuable to a fantasy team than a real team.

As a Knicks fan suffering through their recent seasons, I totally hear ya. Marbury's a perfect example of that... puts up great numbers for his fantasy teams, but is a loser everywhere he goes in the real hoops world. Hope your Phillies do better for ya, MBerg... as long as it's only as high as second place in the East!

Burrell is getting a terrible rap for no reason. His batting average with runners in scoring position is .243. His batting average with the bases empty is .243. 11 of his 20 homers have come with runners on base. He's hobbled a bit in the field, but he tries out there.

It's not Burrell's best year, of course, but he's getting screwed by Charlie Manuel and the Phillies' management. He's second on the team in homers and tied for second in RBIs despite being sat twice a week. He's third in OBP and third in slugging among players that play every day. And I think you can chalk up some of his struggles to the fact that he's being benched every third day and gets taken out of nearly every game that he does start. How is he supposed to get any kind of rhythm at the plate?

Someone needs to smack Manuel and tell him that this is one of the best players on the team and that they have no chance without him in the lineup. As unlikely as it seems at this point, I would love to see him traded to a team where he can play regularly and embarass the Phillies management.

After seeing him play a few times this year, once live, I'd like to see him go to a team who might give him a shot at 1B. He's got good size and maybe this would be a good fit for him, take some D pressure off him which might help him focus more on hitting the ball. He looks really bad in the outfield, against the Pads last week there were 4 or 5 plays he absolutely butchered in left - all went for extra bases.
In one game...